The hippocampus is a key region related to learning, for which neurogenesis is required (Winocur et al., 2006). Chronic, excessive consumption of alcohol leads to dramatic effects on the hippocampus. Hippocampal size is decreased with chronic drinking (Agartz et al., 1999; Laakso et al., 2000), and abstinence leads to a recovery of this volume loss (Crews & Nixon, 2009). The decrease in hippocampal size is due to a combination of neurodegeneration and decreased neurogenesis (Crews & Nixon, 2009; Morris et al., 2010; Richardson et al., 2009). While neurodegeneration is noted in alcoholism, post mortem studies of the hippocampus have found glial cell loss but no neuronal loss. A post mortem study of the hippocampus found a loss of white matter, including oligodendrocytes, but with no significant loss of neurons (Harding et al., 1997). Alcoholics who had been abstinent before death did not show a significant loss of white matter, implying that recovery from this loss is possible (Harding et al., 1997). A second post mortem examination of the hippocampus showed a 37% loss of glial cells (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and to
